Why Isn't "Despacito" Nominated For A VMA In 2017? There's A Complicated Reason Behind The Snub

When the 2017 MTV VMAs air on Sunday night, the biggest song of the summer will be missing from the festivities. "Despacito" doesn't have a single — no Best Song, Recording Artist, or Video — nothing at all. Why isn't "Despacito" nominated for a VMA in 2017 is a bit of a head-scratcher. According to the Associated Press, MTV said in a statement that "the ‘Despacito’ video was not submitted for consideration.” MTV told the AP that the song "Despacito" — but not the video — would be nominated in the Song of the Summer category.

For all its popularity, "Despacito" is yet to make an appearance on any MTV network. According to the AP, MTV did not explain the music video's absence on their channels when asked. The Universal Music Latin Entertainment released a statement, encouraging MTV to air the "Despacito" video on any of its networks, according to Billboard. The statement read:

"Great songs transcend geography and language, and our artists produce music videos that reach a passionate global audience, highlighted by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee quickly breaking viewership and streaming records across audio and video platforms with 'Despacito.' We're proud to work with MTV to expose new audiences to our artists' music and we would welcome MTV's decision to recognize Spanish-language videos on its main channel and the Music Video Awards program."

The absence of "Despacito" at the VMAs has not gone unnoticed. It's an undeniable jam, arguably the song of the summer, and has more than one major star attached to it, including a remix with Justin Bieber. The original video for "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee has been viewed over 3 billion times on YouTube alone.

“Awards are very important but what bigger award [is there] than having the most watched video in the world in history? It doesn’t really get any bigger than that,” Fonsi told the AP, referring to the song’s YouTube record. “Hopefully it’ll win some awards down the line, down the road, but I think I got the biggest one so far, straight from the people.”

Just in case you needed a refresher — or midday dance break — the original video is below.

LuisFonsiVEVO on YouTube

MTV leaving out the success of "Despacito" feels like a missed opportunity. Not only is it blatantly denying audiences of a total summer jam, it also could've brought diversity to the MTV stage.